Chapter Text
Clarke Griffin
Does the idea come to the writer or does the writer come to the idea, that was the first line in the first book of Clarke Griffins favourite book series and years on she still had difficulty understanding what the line actually meant. Reality as the book series was called was actually a rather complex work of fiction so Clarke wasn’t alone in having a hard time understanding what half the book was actually trying to get at when it talked about all this multiverse stuff but it hadn’t used to bother her this much.
Sitting outside her high school Arkadia high on one of the schools benches Clarke continued to stare at the front page of her old first copy of the first reality book her dad had gotten her way back trying to once again figure out that first line. Clarke knew in the grand scheme of things this all didn’t really matter that much but she still wanted to figure this out and for some complicated reasons it was actually kind of personal for her.
‘Clarke,’ a voice said loudly and just like that Clarke was pulled away from her book back into ironically, reality. Looking up now Clarke saw a friend of hers Raven Rayes sitting down next to her smiling a bemused looking smile ‘you know Clarke that took me three tries,’ she remarked grinning.
‘Sorry,’ Clarke shrugged putting her book back in her bag ‘I was just having another read on the first chapter to see if I could spot anything new around all that stuff.’
Hearing this Raven let out a large sigh rolling her eyes as she did so ‘you know there is probably no grand mystery to be solved in that book Clarke, the author probably just smashed a whole lot of random shit together to make it look like there was a mystery so people would buy the book.’ Clarke opened her mouth to counter this point but Raven beat her to it ‘before you say it Clarke,’ she said pointedly ‘I know some coded messages have been found in there but that really probably is just the writer playing tricks.’
On any other day Clarke would probably have kept right on with arguing this point but honestly, she didn’t feel much like doing any of that today, ‘still a good book though,’ she said instead saying something she knew was a point they could agree on. Raven might not share some of the ideas Clarke and others online had about the book reality, but she had actually read all the books and was actually a fan of the series even if she did have some ideas about the writer.
‘Of course,’ Raven nodded smiling at this ‘the whole space station in orbit of a ruined earth that explores other dimensions is a really unique concept, plus I’m a big Lindsey fan, she’s the coolest out of all of them.’
‘I would argue that’s Eliza,’ Clarke counted laughing bringing up her favourite character in the book who was a realistic teen girl role model in Clarke’s opinion. Reality didn’t make an especially big deal about it but Eliza was a character that for Clarke at least represented body positivity and self-confident LGBT values which were both things that had proven to be problems for Clarke in the past.
Clarke was not a big girl she knew that these days, but she was also what was considered curvy so when Clarke was a little younger she had ended up having some issues there but reading about a character like Eliza had made Clarke see things a little differently. Clarke was not big she knew that now it was just unlike girls like Raven Clarke was a little bit more curvy and in some ways that could be a good thing when it came to boys and even girls for that matter. Clarke had yet to come out to her mum but thanks to reading about Eliza Clarke had been able to tell a few people like Raven that she found both boys and girls attractive.
‘O don’t start,’ Raven laughed mocking Clarke in a good-natured way now ‘I know Eliza is a feminist Bi icon and all that but you know me Clarke I’m always going to like a brainiac character.’
‘Fair enough,’ Clarke shrugged submitting to the point such things were often a very personal choice after all so Raven’s point really was a fair one. Having said that Clarke for her part didn’t say anything else and Raven didn’t say anything for a moment either so Clarke was free to look around them for a moment at the well maintained front of Arkadia high and all there fellow class mates who looked to be heading back inside.
‘Come on,’ Clarke said standing up gesturing for Raven to do the same ‘we should probably be heading back in there as well,’ lunch looked to be over soon so that meant there were still two lessons left in the day. One of which Clarke knew would have a personal enemy of hers in so she’d rather get all that over and done with as quickly as possible.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ Raven said speaking in an unbothered voice gathering her things and getting up herself ‘you know Clarke being late to a lesson once or twice isn’t a be all end all bad thing.’
‘Maybe not,’ Clarke granted as her and Raven moved towards the schools big carved wooden front doors ‘but I have literature next and you know as well as I do who will be there and how he will be if I’m late.’
‘I guess, I get that,’ Raven frowned as they both stepped inside the schools main building ‘Bellamy Blake does have it out for you Clarke doesn’t he,’ she added sending her a sympathetic look as she said this part.
‘Exactly,’ Clarke nodded grimacing slightly as she emphasized this point, she didn’t really understand it but her and Bellamy Blake had been at each other’s throats for a long time now, something about her just seemed to piss Bellamy off. Thankfully though because he was a year a head of her Clarke didn’t need to put up with him much but because certain elective classes had multiple years within them for a few lessons it did happen sometimes.
‘You know I wonder sometimes if he takes some of these elective classes just to be able to mess with me,’ Clarke added remembering a few times Bellamy had gone out of his way to call her out in these lessons with his teasing. Clarke would sometimes make fun of Bellamy herself in these lessons as well but that was different, she was never vindictive the way Bellamy would be and she only did it because he did it to her.
‘I did try to warn you literature was a bad choice Clarke,’ Raven remarked as the two of them moved deeper into the schools main building ‘if you’d taken robotics like I did you’d be coming to class with me right now instead of heading of to face down your mortal enemy.’
‘I like reading good literature though,’ Clarke countered scowling at the point Raven often bought up when Clarke complained about Bellamy. ‘If I want to take a class like literature,’ she carried on as they came to a stair case and stopped ‘I should be able to take it and not worry about ass holes who are probably only taking the class to annoy me.’
‘You know he does actually like reading right Clarke,’ Raven said stepping on to the first step beginning to head upwards but turning around to face Clarke ‘his bedroom was full of books Clarke, one’s that had clearly been read.’
Hearing this last part Clarke right away made a gagging motion ‘Raven please don’t remind me that you once hooked up with that ass hole, I know it was a long time ago now and that it was just sex and it was before you really knew him but still.’ It didn’t bother Clarke the knowledge that her friend had once had sex with her enemy because that had honestly been a complicated time for Raven but she didn’t like to be reminded of the fact.
‘Whatever,’ Raven shrugged turning back around beginning to move up the stairs ‘but to be clear Clarke,’ Raven began starting to laugh ‘it wasn’t really a hook up more as it were me fucking his brains out.’
‘Raven,’ Clarke screeched but it was to late Raven was already rushing off up the stairs the main buildings second floor where Clarke knew Raven’s class was laughing as she did so. This left Clarke on her own so she had no choice really but to turn around from the stairs and start heading in the direction of the library which was where her lesson would be for obvious reasons.
Becoming one with the mass of students that seemed to be heading in that direction Clarke wasn’t left with much to do while she walked other than think about Raven’s last mocking joke which wasn’t a nice thought for Clarke. Thankfully though after a few moments of these painful visuals Clarke’s phone beeped providing her with a welcome distraction from these rather unpleasant thoughts.
The reality book series was actually a worldwide phenomenon, it was already talked about in the same level of greatness of things such as lord of the rings and others so there were all the ordinary things that went along with such popularity when it came to reality. One of which involved online groups on various social media sites that talked about the books and theories that were out there around them most of which Clarke was a big part of to the point she was actually a big voice across several sites.
The beep from Clarke’s phone as it turned out had been a notification of a private message being sent her way on one of these groups so getting her phone Clarke opened it up and started responding to it as she walked thankful for the distraction from a certain ass hole. The private message as it turned out was from Bobsman12 probably Clarke’s best online friend and a guy who was just as obsessed about Reality as she was and almost as big online as she was when it came to book theories.
Clarke didn’t actually know much about Bobsman12 in terms of his off line life like her he didn’t share much about that part of his life including his real name but Clarke wasn’t really one to judge. To Clarke’s internet friends she was Elfanprincess21 and she liked it that way because it meant she could pretend if just for a little while that less than ideal aspects of her life weren’t a thing and connect with people like Bobsman12 who only wanted to talk about stuff that was easy to talk about. Stuff like theories about Reality and how things were progressing with certain characters or even different ships that were getting talked about so something Clarke could talk about with out fear of judgment, relieved to have this escape Clarke started reading the message.
Bobsman12 – Really looking forward to when the sneak peak artist images drop today, still thinking if they connect to the ones last year.
Reading this Clarke couldn’t help but smile feeling a small release at being able to chat with Bobsman12 as she was walking toward what Clarke felt like was going to be a hard lesson, this topic was just the distraction she needed right now. Unlike many writers who were managing an ongoing book series the writer behind the Reality book series was a big fan of dropping clues for the books that were already out and the ones that were yet to come something which was supposed to be happening today. Smiling Clarke started typing a reply to Bobsman12 just as she was getting close to the library wondering as she did so what exactly Bobsman12 whoever they were was doing right now.
Elfanprincess21 – You know as well as me that the publisher said that what they will be putting out will be completely knew stuff, it will probably be something simple like a new character sketch.
Having sent her message Clarke was about to close her phone and step into the library which she was now in front of not really expecting an immediate response but as it turned out she got one right away. Bobsman12 whoever they were and wherever they were must be staring at there phone right now as she was Clarke mused hanging back for a moment now as she read Bobsman12’s response.
Bobsman12 – That guy lies all the time, we all talk about how he leads the fans on, I bet this is another time where he’s lying to all of us.
Elfanprincess21 – Maybe he’s lying to all of us sure but why would he want to do that this time, for what reason?
Clarke didn’t often respond to a message right away like that but the response to that message had been easy for her to write, sometimes that happened with this sort of thing. Bobsman12 was right the publisher Jason Rothenberg who was a face of a lot of the Reality book series stuff because the writer didn’t do interviews did lie about things and would lead the fans on but Clarke couldn’t see why the guy would lie this time around.
Having sent that message Clarke closed her phone at least for the time being and stepped into the school’s library which was actually a rather large room. Arkadia high library wasn’t some room with books the school just called a library it was a real library, it had sections, book cases you needed a ladder for, reading areas where you had to be quiet and it even had a few rare books. In fact it would be the kind of library Clarke would have felt really lucky to be able to have lessons within if it wasn’t for a certain someone.
With that thought in mind Clarke held her breath as she moved to the area of the library where her literature lesson was held which already had a few of her fellow students gathered in which sadly did include Bellamy. However today he seemed to be preoccupied with something on his phone so Clarke was able to slip into a seat next to Harper another friend of hers without Bellamy noticing her ever so slightly late arrival. Relaxing a bit with this realisation Clarke was about to start to chat with Harper who was playing around with her own phone now before the lesson got started but before she could her phone buzzed drawing her attention to it again.
Bobsman12 – that ass probably doesn’t need a reason to lie, thinks he’s a genius so probably thinks any idea he has is gold.
Elfanprincess21 – I don’t really think that is a very convincing argument you know, it doesn’t really matter if he is though, this time tomorrow you and I will have more interesting things to talk about.
Bobsman12 – I guess, still think JRoth is an ass though, wish we were hearing from the person who is really behind Reality instead of him.
Looking at this last message of Bobsman12 in their little quick chat Clarke couldn’t help but smile, talking about this sort of thing was so much easier than other stuff. Talking about mysteries like the one around the writer of the Reality book series was really fun as well, the mystery of the writer of Reality had actually been one of the internets biggest mysteries for a long time now.
Everyone knew the mans name, at least they knew what was on the back of all of the Reality books but that was about it. There were a few confirmed facts like the man had apprently started writing Reality when he was at college or that he had once lived in New Orleans but that was just about everything that had been confirmed and the rest was just rumour. The man was right up there with Banksy and DB Cooper in many ways so the writer himself really did represent a very big mystery in his own special way.
Clarke would have responded to Bobsman12’s message but just then the teacher Mis Woods who was a tall formidable black woman appeared at the front of the class so Clarke quickly put her phone away as everyone else did more or less the same thing. It was an annoying stereotype the idea that the whole class would be on there phones if a teacher wasn’t there to make them concentrate but honestly in Clarkes experience stereotypes were normal there for some reason.
‘Now,’ Mrs Woods said as she was ordering some papers into different stacks at the front where she had a table ready for her ‘while I’m sorting this out does anyone have any thoughts they would like to share about the topics we were talking about last time?’
Hearing this request Clarke tried to pull her mind back to what the class had ended up talking about last week, the class often ended up having some very interesting debates. As Clarke recalled the subject of argument last week had revolved around issues of gender in some of the early great dystopian books, they had all made a big thing of both 1984 and Brave new world.
‘Yeah,’ a voice that was sadly familiar to Clarke said right away responding to Mrs Woods comment ‘I’ve had some thoughts about Brave new world.’ Turning Clarke looked over at Bellamy fucking Blake as he started with what was sure to be an idiotic opinion ‘well Lenina isn’t really a victim,’ Bellamy went on ‘she played around with two guys and as a result both of them met a bad end.’
‘They treated her like a sex dole,’ Clarke snapped immediately, right away she was outraged by Bellamy which was such a common thing for her. ‘She was just an object to them,’ Clarke continued ready to argue this point spurred on by her inner feminist and frankly just her desire to one up Bellamy Blake ‘so honestly why is she to blame for what happened?’
Bellamy opened his mouth no doubt ready to argue his point but Mrs Woods spoke first ‘great points you two,’ she said quickly trying to stop another big blow up from the sounds of it. Clarke for her part shot Bellamy a deliberately smug look as she had sort of gotten the last word here which judging from the glare he shot back was not something he was happy about but Mrs Woods was moving things forward so that was that.
‘Now,’ Mrs Woods began as she moved her stacks of papers around regretting her idea at trying to start debate within the class room from the looks of it ‘today I want us all to talk about the idea of fanfiction and how it relates to literature.’ Mrs Woods paused here to let the statement sink in but then kept speaking ‘for those of you who don’t know fanfiction is where someone writes a short story using the narrative or characters of an existing concept, now before we really get started are there any questions there?’
No hands went up so after a small pause Mrs Woods kept speaking ‘a lot of fanfiction especially what you find on the internet is nothing to pay much attention to or just pawn frankly but there are really good examples out there.’ Listening to that Clarke had to agree, she enjoyed looking at fanfiction around Reality and there were some good fics out there but there was a lot of crap as well so Mrs Woods was right. ‘In fact,’ Mrs Woods added continuing with this line of discussion ‘it could be and it has been argued that these good examples on certain levels actually enhance they original narrative through the perspectives it brings to the concepts.’
There were a few questioning murmurs to this statement of Mrs Woods so she quickly changed direction in what she was talking about, ‘does anyone have any idea about what I’m getting at here,’ Mrs Woods asked bringing this question back to the class. No hands went up though in an effort to answer this question as was typical when things were put on the spot as such so after a few moments Mrs Woods started looking around the class to put someone even more on the spot and that ended up being Clarke.
Seeing Mrs Woods look at her and ask what she though Clarke tried not to frown at her miss fortune here as she gave the question a stab ‘are you saying that when a fictional world is complex enough to have someone else write about that complexity adds to the world that has been created.’ Clarke asked this first part just giving it all an attempt but as she spoke she found herself getting a better idea of it all so she continued ‘the original narrative is always going to be the original writers, however,’ Clarke continued feeling like she was getting this ‘having other people add to the narrative it can allow it to expand.’ Having said that part Clarke paused for a moment but then kept going ‘the work could then become it’s own entity in a way maybe even growing beyond the original idea becoming something maybe even better for the new ideas added on.’
‘Well done Clarke,’ Mrs Woods nodded seemingly impressed by her answer ‘I think you’ve really hit the nail on the head there, there are many examples in literature of original books becoming so much more because of the work of others adding to what the original writer came up with.’ Having addressed Clarke Mrs Woods looked out at the rest of the class ‘Lovecraft would be a great example of this,’ she said giving evidence of her point ‘there were those who added to what he wrote after his death and as a result his work became something so much more.’
‘Out of interest have any of you tried doing that yourselves,’ Mrs Woods asked after a moments silence still looking around the class ‘there are a lot of great sites out there were you can post stuff.’ There was no response to this question which was something that made Clarke smile, no one wants to admit it Clarke thought as Mrs Woods kept looking around the class, Clarke knew she did and she knew for a fact others in the room did as well but they were all embarrassed.
Coming mostly out of a desire to make fun at those who were not admitting to it Clarke found herself putting her hand up a moment later ‘I do Mrs,’ she called ‘I write Reality fanfiction.’
This sparked a bit of a shocked sound from the class and a barely held in laugh that Clarke was sure came from Bellamy but Clarke didn’t care, she was sure he was someone who probably wrote hard core smut so he shouldn’t be one to judge. Having heard this admission Mrs Woods turned back to face Clarke ‘thank you for that admission,’ she smiled clearly pleased with Clarke ‘if you don’t mind me asking have you had much success with stuff you’ve posted.’
‘Some,’ Clarke shrugged being deliberately modest here, she had actually had a lot of success but she really didn’t want to brag about her writing. Clarke had a reputation online that was big and successful and all that but she didn’t like to brag and besides it wasn’t like she was an influencer or anything like that, Clarke had only gotten money out of what she did twice.
‘Good for you,’ Mrs Woods nodded smiling at Clarke apprently approving of that one word answer to her question.
‘You know I’ve heard,’ Bellamy said cutting here sounding anxious to be involved here for some reason ‘that the writer of the Reality book series actually encourages things like fanfiction writing when it comes to his books.’
‘That’s true Bellamy,’ Mrs Woods said turning to face Bellamy now giving him the attention Clarke was sure he was after ‘the Reality author like several others before him encourages people to add to what he or maybe even she has created.’
‘Might be why it’s so popular,’ Clarke said adding on to this point but because she had a real observation not because she was looking for attention from the teacher like Bellamy was no doubt. ‘People are free to experience Reality in all these different ways,’ Clarke added continuing with her point ‘instead of just reading the Reality books I guess you could say people really experience them and the Reality that is behind them.’
Clarke let out a little giggle at this last part pleased with her little double use of words at the end there as did several others in the class but the good mood was soon ruined when a voice shot out saying that the fans of Reality were practically a cult. They didn’t just stop there either after they had said that the voice went on to say that books like Reality were just a distraction at best and at worst indoctrination that pulled people away from study of the true religion.
Frowning not liking the insult to a book series as good as the Reality book series Clarke turned in her seat looking for the source of the voice and as she did so her eyes immediately found Dax. Bellamy was the big source of annoyance in Clarkes life but just because Bellamy had the top spot that didn’t mean that there weren’t others which Dax decidedly was. Dax was a puritanical Christian just like his televangelists farther who Clarke knew for a fact was a right wing zealot which was all stuff Dax believed in so there were more than a few reasons for Clarke to dislike the guy.
‘You know with the talk of a multiverse,’ Dax continued carrying on with his point ‘some people actually believe it’s all real, like that gay heretic writer is Neo and he’s figured out we are all living inside the matrix.’ A lot there got to Clarke in more ways than one so turning more in her seat she made to respond to Dax’s statement opening her mouth with words already forming in her mind but Mrs Woods beat her to it.
‘Dax,’ Mrs Woods said with a very pointed voice in response to that statement ‘I’ve told you before, do not, I repeat do not use gay as an insult in front of me.’
‘Sorry Mrs,’ Dax apologised but judging from the way he glared Clarke had no doubt the apology was fake so feeling defiant Clarke made to go at Dax again but once again someone else beat Clarke to it.
‘You know what they say about guys who say everyone else is gay Dax,’ Bellamy of all people said mocking Dax from where he was sitting not even looking up from his own desk. This earned a shout from Dax which in turn got a tell off for both of them from Mrs Woods which was something that was fun for Clarke to watch even if it was a little annoying that Bellamy was the one on the right side of all this.
‘Who is this heretic writer anyway,’ Dax said sitting back down after this little incident as Mrs Woods had told him to do ‘I know my dad and others have looked into him and they haven’t been able to find anything.’ There was a lot to unpack there so while others were doing that Clarke was able to finally join back in with all this ready with a response because part of that statement was around a question Clarke was familiar with.
‘Plenty of writers have used pseudonyms in the past,’ Clarke answered addressing Dax but also talking to the rest of the class in a way ‘for various reasons they hide there identity when there work is published.’ She would have left it there but something else she could say occurred to Clarke ‘supposedly with Reality though,’ Clarke began adding on to her original point ‘the writer just wants the series to stand for its self-separate from him so he doesn’t do things like give interviews.’ Clarke paused for a moment here considering things she had read about the writer in the past and what she personally believed to be true ‘in fact,’ she said smiling slightly at being able to share this ‘that might be all it is, the writer might just not give interviews, his name might actually be Jacob Denness.’